Chapter 26
The Minister was relieved that we’d managed to return on time.
The presumptive new Mage-Emperor, Kazu, was scheduled to undergo his ritual testing bright and early this morning, and it would look very bad if half our delegation were missing.
He was even happier to learn that we’d not only destroyed the lab and some of the firearms, but also recovered the missing agents, and praised us for a job well done.
We introduced him to Liu, explaining where we’d gotten her from and that we planned to take her back home with us.
For a moment, I worried the Minister would refuse to let her join the delegation since she was only a human.
But to my surprise, he accepted her without protest, and immediately assigned one of our actual servants to look after her.
After a few hours of very much deserved sleep, we all rose early and dressed in our finest to attend the testing ritual.
It was being held in a huge open-air amphitheater normally used for sporting events.
Unlike the funeral, it was open to the public.
Half of the capital’s population must have been crowding the venue, filling the air with palpable excitement as they chattered amongst themselves.
It’s a good thing Garaians aren’t overweight, I thought to myself, eyeing the wooden benches.
Those seats might have broken down under the masses otherwise.
As it was, I heard some ominous creaks beneath the buzz of conversation as red-clad ushers led our group to the reserved section of prime seats.
These seats for official guests were covered in red velvet, unlike the bare wooden benches for the common people.
The sky was still overcast and cloudy, and many spectators had brought umbrellas. I wondered if the velvet covers and our elegant robes would be soaked during the event. It was a good thing we were mages and could conjure a rain barrier above our heads if we had to.
“There seems to be a lot of betting going on,” I muttered to Iannis as we settled into our pre-assigned seats.
We were in the top row of the cordoned-off area, which was awesome, because it gave us a good view of the arena while keeping us far away from harm.
On our way up, I had watched money exchange quite a few hands, though discreetly.
“Naturally,” Iannis said with a hint of a smile. His expression was stern, but there was a glint in his violet eyes that told me he was looking forward to the event, and that he might have even placed a bet himself. “Such events always encourage gambling, even if there is no official bookie.”
I’d heard that Garaians were very fond of gambling, and imagined that on a historic occasion like this, fortunes were changing hands.
It was a bit surprising the government allowed it, but then again, there was no Emperor at this moment; the ceremony we were about to witness would decide if the heir would be crowned, or if one of his brothers would be allowed to take the test. It made sense to allow gambling, so that people would be encouraged to attend and witness his success.
The center of the amphitheater was bare except for a loosely built wall some thirty-feet high and twenty-feet wide, made of heavy stones stacked together without cement. Only three feet beside it, a white spot was marked in the carefully raked sand surface.
“So how exactly does this testing stuff work?” I asked. “Is it like the kind of testing you do at the end of your apprenticeship?”
“Oh no,” Iannis said. “Kazu has already done that long ago. These trials are more of a local tradition, but a very important one. Today is the day that he must prove to his people that he has the strength to lead them.”
“And how does he do that?”
“There are three trials,” Director Chen explained.
“Prince Kazu must overcome two maddened bulls, stop that stone wall from crushing him, and defend himself against ten well-armed enemies without carrying any arms himself. Only if he proves he can withstand such challenges will he be allowed to wear the mantle of Mage-Emperor and appoint the officials he trusts as his government.”
“Really?” I wrinkled my nose at that. “I’d think any competent mage could do those things.”
“As I said, these tests are more about tradition,” Iannis said, and from the tone of his voice, it sounded like he agreed with me. “I think it would be good to have a test for wisdom and justice as well, though such a test might be more difficult to devise.”
We debated that for a little while, but as Chen and Iannis began to delve into more complicated ideas, I grew bored.
Tuning them out, I scanned the crowds as I waited for the testing to begin.
My heart skipped a beat as I caught sight of Haman coming up the aisle, with Isana and his son Malik in tow.
Haman’s eyes met mine, and I raised my hand in greeting, figuring it would be insulting to pretend as if I hadn’t noticed.
He smiled back, and Isana gave me a half-hearted wave as they headed to their seats a few rows down from us.
Malik, on the other hand, only raised his chin and stared straight ahead.
I frowned at the snub. Had I done something to offend him?
Or was he just prejudiced against me because I was a half-shifter?
I don’t know why you’re acting surprised, a snide voice said in my head. He’s acting just the way you expected your family to.
A loud gong echoed throughout the arena, jarring me from my thoughts, and the crowd instantly went silent.
I looked up just in time to see Prince Kazu, the eldest son of the former Mage-Emperor, stride onto the sanded arena.
He hadn’t attended any receptions before we’d left for Leniang, so this was my first sight of him.
He looked about forty, tall, strong, and warrior-like.
He had dressed in leathers and half-armor, likely to remind the people of his long career as a successful general.
If he was at all worried about the high stakes he was facing, it could not be seen from his tranquil expression.
A murmur of admiration and speculation blew through the crowd as he strode to the spot marked in white.
I glanced sideways at the dais of the widowed Empress, accompanied by her adult children, who looked effeminate compared to their half-brother. My hackles rose at the gloating half-smile on the face of the Empress. She looked not a day older than thirty, younger than the Emperor-designate.
“She’s planning something,” I said to Iannis in mindspeak. “Some kind of sabotage?”
“Without doubt. I imagine her stepson will be on his guard.”
An opening in the amphitheater’s walls was raised, and two huge black bulls burst into the arena.
I blinked at their behavior, surprised they would rush to attack so quickly.
They would usually have done some stomping and sniffing before deciding to attack the lone mage by the wall.
But then I noticed their bloody red eyes and the white foam coating their nostrils.
I was too far to sniff at them, but it was obvious they’d been drugged, and my stomach turned at the sight of such disgusting treatment.
To his credit, Prince Kazu stood calmly on the white spot that had been marked for him to make his stand, unfazed by the mad rush.
He held up a hand and shouted a spell, and the stampede stopped in an instant as the bulls were immobilized.
The beasts stood there in their strange poses for a moment, until the heavier one slowly toppled onto its side.
Attendants rushed from the sides and pulled their heavy bodies across the sand with ropes.
“Even I could have done that,” I remarked in a low voice.
“Don’t sell yourself short,” Director Chen murmured to my surprise. “You may be an apprentice, but you are more powerful than most, or will be when fully trained. Not every mage can handle two bulls at once.”
I frowned, unconvinced. Then again, maybe being trained by one of the most powerful mages in the northern hemisphere had left me with unrealistic expectations of other mages’ abilities. I would have to think about that more later, after the test was over.
The next test involved the wall. Another mage struck it with a spell, and the stones all came clattering down atop Kazu’s head at once. I expected him to react with a spell, so my heart leapt in my throat when he was instead buried beneath the avalanche of rocks.
“He could have put up a barrier,” the Minister said critically, and I privately agreed. Why the hell had he just stood there?
“I believe he did,” Iannis said mildly. Before our eyes, the stones flew backward and neatly stacked themselves into an orderly heap. From underneath, Kazu emerged, looking completely unruffled. Not one hair out of place, or a single smudge on his clothing. He had to have been shielded.
The Empress looked disappointed, though she quickly smoothed out her features.
“He used the body shield technique, as I thought,” Iannis concluded. “A small but impenetrable shield about two inches from the skin,” he added to me. “We must practice it soon. It’s quick and efficient, appropriate for a soldier, but requires steady nerves.”
“Good idea,” I said, doing my best to hide my disappointment at how fast the trials were going by.
Indeed, the first two tests had ended so quickly, it hardly seemed worth coming all this way to witness the ceremonial testing.
It was all over bar the shouting, I decided, since fighting off armed opponents, the last test, would be child’s play for a seasoned mage general.
The ten fighters came into the arena from the same door where the bulls had entered, but instead of rushing the prince all at once, they separated and tried to encircle Kazu.
Then three of them made a dash straight at him from the front, while the others approached more slowly from behind, brandishing their spears and swords.
“Why doesn’t he immobilize them, like he did with the bulls?” I asked.
“They were too far away at the entrance, and you can only immobilize enemies you see,” Iannis explained. “He can do it to the ones in front, but not simultaneously to all ten.”
Huh. Perhaps it wasn’t that easy after all. I’d have to try it myself sometime, if I could arrange to have ten attackers practice with me at once.
The general made a gesture and shouted a spell, but the attackers, all ten of them, kept coming, their movements only growing swifter as they tried to rush him.
“They must be using alarain!” Director Chen exclaimed.
Her scandalized words were drowned out by the crowd as they suddenly began shouting and yelling from the stands.
Many of their faces were red, and they shook their fists in outrage.
Others remained carefully blank but for the smug gleam in their eyes, and I noticed that Chari, the widowed Empress, was one of these.
Was there some sort of foul play occurring?
I opened my mouth to ask Director Chen what was going on, but pandemonium broke out in the arena, and I whipped my gaze toward it.
Kazu had somehow managed to take away the sword from one of his attackers, and he’d erupted into a whirlwind, disarming and killing the men who now crowded and attacked him from all sides.
I frowned, unable to discern whether or not he was using any magic.
Why didn’t he just blast them with magical fire, as I had done to that rhino shifter so long ago on that fateful day?
But Kazu didn’t incinerate his enemies, or attack them with anything but his fists and sword.
He spun through his attackers like a tornado of death.
As he cut down his enemies one by one, an awed silence descended onto the amphitheater.
The smug glint in the Empress’s eyes faded, and every other face showed either shock, admiration, or horror at the display of unrestrained violence.
The last man fell to the ground with a hoarse cry, and the crowd seemed to flinch collectively as Kazu stabbed him straight through the throat with his sword.
His death scream echoed throughout the amphitheater, and everyone watched in utter silence as Kazu spun away from the dead man and stalked toward the dais.
He’d defeated all the attackers with an incredible display of strength and skill, despite the wound in his arm that one of the more fervent attackers had dealt him.
Blood stained the linen sleeve beneath his cuirass as he stood before the Empress and her courtiers, dripping to the ground from his fingertips as he silently stared them all down.
His face was expressionless, but I had no doubt he was in a towering rage.
I would have been calling for blood if they’d tried to sabotage me like that!
I hoped he gave the Empress a taste of her own damned medicine, once this was all over.
As Kazu met each of their gazes, the courtiers prostrated themselves before him, one by one.
The eldest of them stood, then waved a hand to Kazu and shouted something to the audience.
The crowd rippled as the spectators all lowered their heads in a respectful bow, and there was no need for Chen to translate when the meaning had been so clear.
The Gods had spoken, and Kazu was Garai’s new Emperor.
“Just what the hell happened?” I demanded as we were carried back to our quarters. “What is alarain, and why didn’t Prince Kazu use his magic?”
“A very rare and extremely expensive potion that protects humans against all kinds of magic,” Iannis explained.
“It only exists in Garai, and is strictly controlled. Whoever gave it to the team of attackers was trying to ensure that Kazu would be unable to stop them with magic and that he would be killed. The chief suspect is obvious. A political problem for the new Emperor to solve.”
Would he order the execution of his stepmother, or merely exile her? It must be horrible to have such deadly enemies in your own family.
But then again, it seemed I was in a similar position. My heart sank into the pit of my stomach, and I suddenly wasn’t sure if I wanted to run into my father again.